Rohr denies setting standards for China-based players

Super Eagles’ Coach, Gernot Rohr, has denied reports that he has set a standard every Nigerian player in the Chinese League must meet before being invited to the senior national team.

Super Eagles’ captain, John Obi Mikel, Odion Ighalo and Brown Ideye are among Rohr’s first team members plying their trade in China. There are also reports that midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi is on the verge of joining the China train.

Denying a story that says he has put a lid on the number of players from the Chinese League he will invite to the national team, Rohr said in tweets in the NGSuperEagles handle, “my attention has been drawn to a story quoting me as setting a limit on number of players to be invited from the Chinese League. I do not know where this statement credited to me came from. I have had a very good and cordial relationship with the media.

“I know the media are very important partners of our football development and have a huge role to play in our success as a team. It’s not good for me to get use to seeing stories credited to me that I do not know anything about or read words I never said.

“I therefore implore our media friends to be more professional in this regard so we can together get Nigeria football to the top.”

Super Eagles Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye, also reiterated the coach’s desire to have the best available Nigerian players in his team in the build up to the African Nations Cup qualifier against South Africa in June and the back-to-back Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Cameroun.

Ibitoye revealed that the Eagles boss would release the list of players for the friendly games against Senegal and Burkina Faso two weeks before the matches, adding that the coach is keeping close tabs on the players.